Look, I know there have been lots of Star Wars and development posts/tweets (here, here, here), so I won’t belabor things. But forgive me a quick observation after seeing the most recent Star Wars: isn’t the continual construction of bigger and more powerful flying orbs of death by the bad guys (the Empire, then the First Order) a perfect metaphor for the sort of thinking that gave us the Millennium Villages?
Goal: Galactic Domination
Project 1: Star Wars: A New Hope
Logframe: Build giant Death Star space station, blow up a representative planet, watch galaxy cower in fear => Galactic Domination
Evaluation: Failure to address single design flaw results in giant space station destroyed
Outcome: Lack of Domination
Project 2: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Logframe: Build bigger, better Death Star space station, everyone will remember the last one blew up a planet, and because this one is even bigger the galaxy will cower in fear => Galactic Domination
Evaluation: Fixed previous design flaw, overconfidence in tactics and shields failed to account for another fatal flaw, giant space station destroyed
Outcome: Catastrophe, Complete collapse of the Empire
Project 3: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Logframe: F*ck it, we’re making an actual moon/planet into an absolutely massive, sun-powered Starkiller base (rebranded to avoid stigma of previous Death Stars), blow up the entire Federation home system, watch galaxy cower in fear=> Galactic Domination
Evaluation: Pretty much the same flaw as with the second Death Star, with pretty much the same result: Starkiller base destroyed
Outcome: Still no domination
So, to summarize: we have a problem, we can’t seem to solve it, so we will keep plowing ahead with the same approach, but bigger and more expensive, because clearly it isn’t the concept that’s flawed, we just haven’t gone big enough!
Yep, sounds like a lot of development.